MPC 66A: A Well-Known Lie [Sho]
Sept 14, 2019 6:22:57 GMT
Post by Sho Tsuginaga on Sept 14, 2019 6:22:57 GMT
MPC Name: Well, You Asked For It
MPC Number: 66A
Reward Requested: Posts
He’d promised himself a week. Just one good week to be himself, without wondering about Wakako or trying to skulk through rocky caverns and metallic crevices to try and find mystical items he could barely understand. Just one good week without the Digital World. He’d leave his Digivice behind too if he could, but Sho thought for a moment that it was just a little bit too far, so he couldn’t do it. It was probably the best decision he’d ever made. How else could Sho survive a week with his mother’s relatives in Hokkaido?
Especially when it looked so dead in that coastal nook they inhabited in Rumoi. Sho supposed the rest of them would say he'd been spoiled by the streets of Shibuya, but what did they know? How was he wrong when he saw just the opposite looking back at him? Out here, it seemed like everyone was deprived of what made a place feel lived in. If it wasn't quiet that was putting out that atmosphere, then the flat, artificial-looking docks didn't help. Nevertheless, the four of them insisted they visit. Sho could pay attention and grin and have a chuckle when he needed to, but he was really hoping it didn't spiral into a neverending fishing trip.
Luckily, he was able to focus on something he really wanted to learn about in those first two days; the family they were visiting. A family who never bothered to visit them, at that. When everything else went so naturally with the flow, it made sense that Sho would fall back into his habit of observation as well, picking up whatever details he could. The Aunt was clearly the head of the household; she seemed to be able to whip everyone in line no matter who it was, even her own mother, which was a sight to behold; there was no arguing with what she wanted to do, only an inevitable 'Okay'. The Twin Cousins were almost insufferably bright; they knew where you were and where everyone else was, everywhere you could traipse through if you wanted to snip through town at a rabbit's pace; while they could lead Sho and his father around to just about anywhere, they seemed more determined to tussle around through the forest and blame each other for broken toys or undone chores, much to Sho's annoyance. The Grandmother was the worst in his opinion; like her daughter, she had influence with just about everyone in the family but a terrible influence at that. Senile or just superstitious, whenever she said something ridiculous everyone else's reactions to it would cascade on top of each other. She'd say it, then the Twins would repeatedly goad each other about it, and the Aunt would seem so embarrassed that she could barely get a word in- the whole cycle would end if she did that.
This might've been amusing, a good bit of levity even if she could've let go of a certain myth that put a grinding stone onto Sho's nerves. The Curse of The Tsuginagas; it would've been a good wife's tale if she didn't have to prove it was true every half minute like she had to. Apparently, a yokai had cursed every generation of their family after one of their ancestors cracked wise one too many times. It was a simple curse, but quite a horrid one; a mother of the generation would perish from illness and every wise or quick-witted child she bore would be weak and meek for their entire lives. A relatively boring story that turned itself into its own curse just from repetition.
Especially since Sho and his mother seemed to be the perfect living examples of what that grandmother just wouldn’t let them forget. Leaving the minute it was mentioned was his first plan, a plan that would’ve worked if the twins were old enough to take a hint or the rest of them knew what he’d been trying to say. Knew him? They couldn’t even try. This one annoyance was going to be inevitable when they seemed to live in two different worlds anyway. However many times he recounted it on that third night, that thought was as far as he could go. The thought that it might be impossible to know anyone in his own family was what kept him up, staring at his digivice and the hearts looping around its grip. At the press of a button, he could leave it all behind. Be free of the curse that’d been encircling him ever since he got here. What kept him from going? His heart wasn’t in anything he wanted to find here.
It struck him that night.
The realization that it was just that simple. His heart wasn’t in anything he tried to do here, not even wanting to leave. Sho had found himself committed to just suffering through it, to say that nothing had changed just to have the excuse to leave the human world behind whenever he wanted. Just like all the other things he’d done outside this planet, he’d have to take the steps himself. It seemed obvious to him then- a curse is just a well-known lie, a lie to be dispelled through the truth of action. Sappy as it sounded, that’s what he called his little plan; Sho was going to fill the rest of the week with heartfelt action!
If his dad was going to spend his time catching up with his sister, he was going to make himself part of the rest of the family. The twins were fun enough to start with, sharp enough to make the first step of his plan come together too. They were going to run all over town, no rides, no grown-ups. The rest of them could be as hesitant as they wanted to be, Sho thought himself old enough to have some wits about him. Besides, the three of them working together could know the place better than the back of their hands, and Sho had only been living here for three days out of his entire life. From ice cream shops to the coastline to parks and shrines that were all found outside their own house, they were determined to visit as much as they could in a single day outside. It seemed like they were constantly competing to impress each other with their knowledge of trivia the whole time, going back and forth in their trio through the whole trip. The Twins were as receptive as they were streetsmart, something Sho found he could learn from while they dashed from home and back again. Getting back so late gave his Aunt a fright from the surprise and the Grandmother he knew would never believe they ran about for so long, but the sweat on their backs was proof enough.
Sho had neglected to spend a lick of time with his Aunt all in that time and he knew that fact well. That’s what made her such an interesting part of phase two in his plan. Music, concerts, singing, swinging, all these were part of what he imagined her to be like. Even in the subdued way she talked about artists, gawked at instruments, tapped her foot, or hummed away, Sho had to pick up on all of it through careful attention. The action was simple enough, they’d go to a music store and he’d try and get her to talk for as long as possible before they left. Maybe they’d listen to music in the car while they found other music stores to visit, even if it meant looping back to the same one a dozen times. Turns out once Sho got his head around getting his words into the conversation to keep it going, he’d be amazed by how little he knew about the subject and how much his Aunt truly did. She listened to far more American jazz than he could remember ever looking into. It was a miracle that she could survive how terribly Sho sang in English.
He’d given a lot of thought to the grand finale of his plan, it had to be enough to get his Grandmother on his side after all. Well, historically, elder family members seemed to value storytelling, so that’s as far as his thinking went. After all, what could be more fitting? If she had plenty of stories to tell about a family she barely visited, Sho could at the very least prepare some ghost stories to tell for the rest of her family. If any of them got scared enough to lose sleep, it’d be good for him anyway, at least then they’d give him more mind than he thought they did already. He’d picked up the books a couple of days ago from his trip with The Twins, snuck in some eerie CDs on his musical escapade with his Aunt, and now that everything was ready he just had to present the stories with all five of them on the other side. That’d be easy enough, right? Easy for a skilled orator with a vibrant tone of voice...things Sho certainly was not. At times he looked more scared of the story than they did, at others, the movements he’d ripped straight from theatre class gave his granny a good chuckle, but by the end, his silent disposition let him creep behind them and get them to scream. That looked like a mission thoroughly accomplished in his books.
Plus, in that entire time, he’d dispelled another well-known lie; jumpscares really can work. You just need to do two things; only try it with your family and make sure to put your whole heart into it.
MPC Number: 66A
Reward Requested: Posts
He’d promised himself a week. Just one good week to be himself, without wondering about Wakako or trying to skulk through rocky caverns and metallic crevices to try and find mystical items he could barely understand. Just one good week without the Digital World. He’d leave his Digivice behind too if he could, but Sho thought for a moment that it was just a little bit too far, so he couldn’t do it. It was probably the best decision he’d ever made. How else could Sho survive a week with his mother’s relatives in Hokkaido?
Especially when it looked so dead in that coastal nook they inhabited in Rumoi. Sho supposed the rest of them would say he'd been spoiled by the streets of Shibuya, but what did they know? How was he wrong when he saw just the opposite looking back at him? Out here, it seemed like everyone was deprived of what made a place feel lived in. If it wasn't quiet that was putting out that atmosphere, then the flat, artificial-looking docks didn't help. Nevertheless, the four of them insisted they visit. Sho could pay attention and grin and have a chuckle when he needed to, but he was really hoping it didn't spiral into a neverending fishing trip.
Luckily, he was able to focus on something he really wanted to learn about in those first two days; the family they were visiting. A family who never bothered to visit them, at that. When everything else went so naturally with the flow, it made sense that Sho would fall back into his habit of observation as well, picking up whatever details he could. The Aunt was clearly the head of the household; she seemed to be able to whip everyone in line no matter who it was, even her own mother, which was a sight to behold; there was no arguing with what she wanted to do, only an inevitable 'Okay'. The Twin Cousins were almost insufferably bright; they knew where you were and where everyone else was, everywhere you could traipse through if you wanted to snip through town at a rabbit's pace; while they could lead Sho and his father around to just about anywhere, they seemed more determined to tussle around through the forest and blame each other for broken toys or undone chores, much to Sho's annoyance. The Grandmother was the worst in his opinion; like her daughter, she had influence with just about everyone in the family but a terrible influence at that. Senile or just superstitious, whenever she said something ridiculous everyone else's reactions to it would cascade on top of each other. She'd say it, then the Twins would repeatedly goad each other about it, and the Aunt would seem so embarrassed that she could barely get a word in- the whole cycle would end if she did that.
This might've been amusing, a good bit of levity even if she could've let go of a certain myth that put a grinding stone onto Sho's nerves. The Curse of The Tsuginagas; it would've been a good wife's tale if she didn't have to prove it was true every half minute like she had to. Apparently, a yokai had cursed every generation of their family after one of their ancestors cracked wise one too many times. It was a simple curse, but quite a horrid one; a mother of the generation would perish from illness and every wise or quick-witted child she bore would be weak and meek for their entire lives. A relatively boring story that turned itself into its own curse just from repetition.
Especially since Sho and his mother seemed to be the perfect living examples of what that grandmother just wouldn’t let them forget. Leaving the minute it was mentioned was his first plan, a plan that would’ve worked if the twins were old enough to take a hint or the rest of them knew what he’d been trying to say. Knew him? They couldn’t even try. This one annoyance was going to be inevitable when they seemed to live in two different worlds anyway. However many times he recounted it on that third night, that thought was as far as he could go. The thought that it might be impossible to know anyone in his own family was what kept him up, staring at his digivice and the hearts looping around its grip. At the press of a button, he could leave it all behind. Be free of the curse that’d been encircling him ever since he got here. What kept him from going? His heart wasn’t in anything he wanted to find here.
It struck him that night.
The realization that it was just that simple. His heart wasn’t in anything he tried to do here, not even wanting to leave. Sho had found himself committed to just suffering through it, to say that nothing had changed just to have the excuse to leave the human world behind whenever he wanted. Just like all the other things he’d done outside this planet, he’d have to take the steps himself. It seemed obvious to him then- a curse is just a well-known lie, a lie to be dispelled through the truth of action. Sappy as it sounded, that’s what he called his little plan; Sho was going to fill the rest of the week with heartfelt action!
If his dad was going to spend his time catching up with his sister, he was going to make himself part of the rest of the family. The twins were fun enough to start with, sharp enough to make the first step of his plan come together too. They were going to run all over town, no rides, no grown-ups. The rest of them could be as hesitant as they wanted to be, Sho thought himself old enough to have some wits about him. Besides, the three of them working together could know the place better than the back of their hands, and Sho had only been living here for three days out of his entire life. From ice cream shops to the coastline to parks and shrines that were all found outside their own house, they were determined to visit as much as they could in a single day outside. It seemed like they were constantly competing to impress each other with their knowledge of trivia the whole time, going back and forth in their trio through the whole trip. The Twins were as receptive as they were streetsmart, something Sho found he could learn from while they dashed from home and back again. Getting back so late gave his Aunt a fright from the surprise and the Grandmother he knew would never believe they ran about for so long, but the sweat on their backs was proof enough.
Sho had neglected to spend a lick of time with his Aunt all in that time and he knew that fact well. That’s what made her such an interesting part of phase two in his plan. Music, concerts, singing, swinging, all these were part of what he imagined her to be like. Even in the subdued way she talked about artists, gawked at instruments, tapped her foot, or hummed away, Sho had to pick up on all of it through careful attention. The action was simple enough, they’d go to a music store and he’d try and get her to talk for as long as possible before they left. Maybe they’d listen to music in the car while they found other music stores to visit, even if it meant looping back to the same one a dozen times. Turns out once Sho got his head around getting his words into the conversation to keep it going, he’d be amazed by how little he knew about the subject and how much his Aunt truly did. She listened to far more American jazz than he could remember ever looking into. It was a miracle that she could survive how terribly Sho sang in English.
He’d given a lot of thought to the grand finale of his plan, it had to be enough to get his Grandmother on his side after all. Well, historically, elder family members seemed to value storytelling, so that’s as far as his thinking went. After all, what could be more fitting? If she had plenty of stories to tell about a family she barely visited, Sho could at the very least prepare some ghost stories to tell for the rest of her family. If any of them got scared enough to lose sleep, it’d be good for him anyway, at least then they’d give him more mind than he thought they did already. He’d picked up the books a couple of days ago from his trip with The Twins, snuck in some eerie CDs on his musical escapade with his Aunt, and now that everything was ready he just had to present the stories with all five of them on the other side. That’d be easy enough, right? Easy for a skilled orator with a vibrant tone of voice...things Sho certainly was not. At times he looked more scared of the story than they did, at others, the movements he’d ripped straight from theatre class gave his granny a good chuckle, but by the end, his silent disposition let him creep behind them and get them to scream. That looked like a mission thoroughly accomplished in his books.
Plus, in that entire time, he’d dispelled another well-known lie; jumpscares really can work. You just need to do two things; only try it with your family and make sure to put your whole heart into it.
